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 Hire for Attitude, Train for Skill What you know will change through experience, education and on-the-job training. But who you are is less likely to change. So hiring someone with the hope that you can change their core character and the fundamental values that shape their attitude when they come to work for you is a bad hiring decision. Jackie Frieberg co-author, NUTS! Southwest Airlines' Crazy Recipe for Business and Personal Success excerpted with permission from Executive Excellence June, 1998 FORTUNE magazine lists Southwest Airline in the top 5 of the 100 best companies to work for in America. CEO Herb Kelleher utilizes a simple yardstick when hiring employees - attitude. According to author Jackie Frieberg, technical competence is only half the story. When a pilot with a lousy attitude boards the aircraft, his attitude spills out onto the flight crew, who in turn pass that toxic attitude onto the customers. Some keys to help you hire the best include: 1. Identify the people in your organization who already have the kind of attributes you want. Find the superstars. Ask customers, employees and superiors what makes them so effective, easy to work with, competent. Build a profile of these traits and hire new people based on these profiles. 2. Design clever, creative recruiting ads to entice the right people to apply. Southwest Airlines looks for people who color outside the lines. Their ads cause you to stop, think, even chuckle. Ask yourself "Do our recruiting ads reflect the kind of attitudes we are looking for?" If not, get creative in the way you attract people with the skills/attitudes you seek. 3. Screen candidates for certain attitudes such as unselfishness, flexibility, fun, initiative, propensity to take risks, entrepreneurial initiative, etc. Design targeted questions to unearth the specific attitudes you want. For example: Tell me about a time when you broke the rules, flexed a policy, or went above and beyond to meet a customer's need. (entrepreneurial initiative, customer-focused) · Tell me how you used humor to deflect a tense situation. (keeps things in perspective, sense of humor) · Tell me about a time when you assisted a co-worker and received no recognition or credit. (self motivated, doesn't need praise to kick-start behavior, high/low self esteem) · Tell me how you've worked with a difficult co-worker. (people skills) · Tell me about a time when you made a serious mistake. How did you reconcile it? (willing to assume responsibility, be accountable, ability to learn from mistakes) [For Personal Exploration] [Books] [Classes] [Home]
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